Monday, September 29, 2008

Are you not getting enough out of BusStop? Do you want to know what I'm doing, even when I'm not making posts on BusStop? Join me on Twitter, and maybe you can even help me stay abreast of all the skate happenings going on in the world. You can totally stalk me by clicking here.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

This is a difficult post for me to write. Often times, I read about people in the community passing away, with comments attached that say phrases like 'unreal' or 'I can't believe he's gone". I mean--of course I understand the sentiment, but I haven't really felt that way about someone in a long time. When I heard about my cousin Ben on Tuesday night, I didn't believe it. My brain didn't even process it. I went to bed with a headache, feeling dizzy, but it didn't even begin to sink in. Not until my family got together the next day did I really feel the impact of what had happened, and how it affected everyone in the family and those who were close to him.

Ben was always a pretty cool kid. Aside from him being born, I think my earliest memory of him was when he was a toddler, we were at a weekly family dinner at my Grandma's house in Orange Park. I had my best friend Andy Burr with me. Ben apparently thought Andy was pretty cool, and wanted to play tag with him, but Ben's way of tagging was to punch Andy square in the nuts, which he did right in the dining room in front of my whole family. "AARGGGGH MY NUTS!" As soon as those words left Andy's mouth, he ran out the front door in embarrassment. Ben was laughing, with his trademark smile, and everyone else just stood there with their mouths open. Well, except my Grandma, who said something like "EHHH? What happened?" Actually, I think my cousin Patti (Ben's Mom) was laughing too.

My Brother got along great with Ben, too, and he would often babysit him along with his siblings, and they always seemed to have a good time. Ben was a good kid, and was always in a good mood around my family, never impolite in any way.

Ben was good at skateboarding, and I wish I had gotten to skate with him more often. Some of the most memorable family get togethers at his house involved Ben and I skating with his neighbor on a ramp that Carl Naegle built. It was fun. In addition to skateboarding, Ben was also really into Motocross. It was his main thing. Sometimes he would come out to my parent's place in Ocala National forest to ride trails along with his step dad Brad, and it was always good to see him.

I guess this kind of leads to what happened to Ben, the whole reason I'm writing this. Ben died in a motorcycle accident this week, and we are all in shock. My thoughts are jumbled, and it's hard for me to even put words together about him. If anyone wants to share any info about Ben here, Please do. Please leave a comment. If you have anything else, please send it to me @ busstopmag@gmail.com, or to my personal email if you have it.

There are news articles about the incident you can read here and here, and there is a guest book you can find by clicking here.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

I stopped by Emerson on the way home from work today to take some photos of the park. It's a pretty ok standby for when you can't come up with anywhere else to skate, though you might want to go with a group for your own safety later in the day, as I've heard numerous accounts of sketchy activity going down at the park. Nobody there today but a guy on a bike.

Watch out for tetanus

Note the tag on the ramp that says 'whore'. Stay classy, Jacksonville.

If you've never been to Emerson before, it's pretty much a basic steel construction park. There is a spine ramp, and a large miniramp behind it, though the large miniramp has some pretty hefty kinks at the bottom. There are some BMX jumps in the middle of the park, and on the street side, there are some flat rails, a manual box, a hip, and a large bank with a hip and a quarterpipe embedded in the middle of it.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Congrats to Jax Beach Homie George Evans for getting 4th place in the Volcom Miniramp Contest at Surf Expo this past weekend. George also got 3rd place in the best trick contest. You can check out the results here and here. Too bad I couldn't make it down there for the contest, though I heard getting in was pretty harsh.

Update: You can check out the full contest writeup here, with a photo of George in the best trick contest.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

According to 411vm.com, its Mike Peterson's Birthday, so in light of this, I want to say happy birthday. Mike, since I can't buy you a beer right now, I'm just gonna blog about you. If you haven't seen it already, you can check out Mike's part in 411's 'Comin' in Hot!', in addition to his footage in the Consolidated video, Goin Bananas. You can check out his part here, or click here to see Mike's profile on the Consolidated website.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

If you don't know already, Artwalk is an awesome way to drink alcohol in public, meet up with 500 of your friends, and possibly skateboard downtown a little bit too. It seems like every time I go, I run into someone I haven't seen in a hundred years. Last month, I ran into Jimmy Chadwick, a former Jacksonville pro who rode for DNA skateboards. (Remember them?) Now he's working for Vans doing some kind of promo stuff. He had a huge Vans van. This past week I ran into a friend of a friend at Artwalk, you may know him as Piff Huxtable, or alternately, Clyde Singleton. I just wanted to take the time out to tell you people about his blog, if you don't know about it already. You can see it here, with just as much entertainment value as what you have probably read over the years in his columns in the Skateboard Mag. You should also make it a point to check out Clyde's video Minority Report, which you can pick up from Skatepark of Tampa online here. And to everyone, I hope I see you downtown at Artwalk next month. 1st Wednesday of every month.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Thanks to The Skateboard Mag blogs, I came across this tonight. Kleeman and Mike is a series of comics, animated clips, and artwork with a theme most of us can relate to, featured alongside other important things worth looking into at the Kleeman and Mike website here. There are more than a couple of clips to watch, and the art is great too. Check it out. This one specifically grabbed my attention. The art featured here can be seen in the much longer clip, Jaime's Taco Shop, which can be found here.

"Kleeman and Mike follows the adventures of two young roommates named Kleeman and Mike. They have a cat named October and a wise friend and mentor named Brick, who is a brick."

When looking at the site, be sure to check out the 'old site' link at the bottom, as you'll find lots more content worth looking at linked there.

* Palin Supported Penalties for Using Skateboards on Public or Private Property in Wasilla.“Beginning Oct. 15 — after the expected opening of the $233,000 Wasilla Skate Park — skaters will be breaking the law if they use their skateboards, in-line skates, bicycles, scooters (or any other recreational, non-motorized wheeled device) on public or private property where signs are posted forbidding their use.”

The Frontiersman added, “In the ordinance approved Monday, the penalty for first-time violators of the ordinance is a written warning and the skate device may be confiscated for 10 calendar days. For a second offense, a $50 fine shall be paid and the skate device may be confiscated for 30 calendar days. A third-time offender will have to pay a $100 fine and will lose his or her skate device permanently.” [Frontiersman, 9/18/98]

-----------------------You know what I think? We need to come together as a people and make politicans work for the SKATEBOARDER vote!

Also, don't expect me to get into politics on BusStop, I was just looking for an excuse to use that picture.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I briefly wrote about this park in the Go Skate Day/Bangers for Bucks post, but I thought I would take the time to make a seperate post to talk about this interesting transition-themed park. Basically, this park is like the cement equivalent of the Animal Chin ramp, in bowl form.

The bowl of the park makes a unique formation, with a high rollercoaster in in the middle that sends you straight over the tunnel to the parking lot. Or, through the tunnel, if you aim it just right and need an excuse to not go to work for a few weeks.

Martin Ramos, no hands

There is a shallow corner with quick transitions, a huge deep end, and a small snakerun along the back of the deep end.

Snakerun thingy

Between the deck of the shallow end and the bleachers/seating area, there is a long quarterpipe that extends all the way from near the entrance, to the bottom of the snake run on the opposite side of the south end of the park.

It's been a few months since I've been to this park, but chances are it's still exactly the same. Check out the photos of the park, but remember - pictures don't do the place justice, and this place is built for transition skaters with experience.

You can check out more images of this park in my 'Go Skate Day' Gallery here. Go skate it, and have fun. Chances are, you might just find Animal Chin there.

On another note, note the new buttons along the right side of the homepage - these buttons serve as easy navigation to key points of the website that I've found people look for the most. This park review marks the introduction of this feature, and more parks will be added as I get around to it. Just click on the 'Skatepark' button on the right for a summary of all the reviews I've posted so far.